


Gorgug Thistlespring vs. The concept of a closet

by Frog_that_writes



Series: Queer Bad Kids (dimension 20) [1]
Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series), Fantasy High
Genre: Bisexual Gorgug Thistlespring, Coming Out, F/M, M/M, Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary Gorgug Thistlespring, Poly Relationships, Rated for cursing, Trans Character, gorgug's got a crush and his crush's name is rahg, i guess this is basically a collection of one shots now, polyamorous gorgug thistlespring, yes i am the funniest person alive, yes that was a john mulany reference, zelda is a supportive girlfriend
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-16
Updated: 2020-03-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:35:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22274926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frog_that_writes/pseuds/Frog_that_writes
Summary: Ch 1: Zelda notices her boyfriend's attention is a little divided and explains one of the way their cultures differ.(polyamorus tag here)Ch 2: Gorgug tries on a skirt and Zelda takes an ax to anxiety before it even appears.(Nonbinary tag here)Ch. 3 Takes place before chapter two, Gorgug comes out as nb
Relationships: Zelda Donovan/Gorgug Thistlespring
Series: Queer Bad Kids (dimension 20) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1603384
Comments: 21
Kudos: 187





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This just sorta takes place in a random time for the most part but they're in hs and I'll probably reference the events of FH: Live occasionally

Zelda really wasn't as insecure as people thought she was. Sure, sometimes she got a little self conscious about her strength and the parts of her culture that tended to make her a little different that the rest of her classmates, but she was also proud of who she was. She could kick ass, and being a naturally shy person didn't mean she didn't know that. It wasn't like being a satyr was odd either, a good portion of the school was. Zelda was awkward and shy, but if you really got to know her it was obvious she wasn't insecure. 

Which was a really good thing right now, considering she was pretty sure her boyfriend was only pretending to listen to her explanation of all the crazy shit that had gone down on her thirteenth birthday. 

"Gorgug?" She finally asked over the loud noise of the cafeteria. At least once a week Gorgug's group ate together, and it usually coincided with the days that the maidens ate together as well. But they all had friends outside of each other, so today was one of the days they all split up. While usually that meant sitting quietly in one of the corner tables with her half orc boyfriend and listening to each others murmured stories, it seemed only the first half of their routine was happening today. It took two more attempts to gain his attention, and Zelda noticed with amusement that there was definitely something in particular capturing his attention in the direction of the blood rush players' table.

"Sorry Zelda," he apologized. "I'm really distracted today, but I definitely care about what you're saying! I heard something about you crawling into the vents at sometime around two a.m?" 

"Don't worry about it," she waved it off before her tone turned teasing. "I mean, I can see something, or should I say  _ someone  _ has got your attention."

"Zelda!" His face turned somehow even more red than when she had first snapped him out of his staring. He looked scandalized by the very idea. "I would never be thinking about other people, I'm dating you!"

The satyr laughed, and his face turned confused. 

"Think about whoever you want babe, just talk to me if its getting serious, okay?" There was a beat of silence broken only by the noise around them and the sounds of Zelda biting into the pop can she had just finished drinking moments ago before Gorgug spoke again. 

"... I genuinely have no idea what you're talking about." He confessed.

"I'm just saying that it's okay if you have a crush on someone, but we should probably talk first if you want to date them? And I should probably talk to them at least once too, just so we all know what's going on. It doesn't have to be a big deal, but communication is like, super important."

"Um, I understand the communication part but you've lost me a bit with the rest. Why would you be okay with me dating other people?" Gorgug's face suddenly lit up with realization before immediately being filled again with hesitation. "You're not breaking up with me right?"

"What? No!" Zelda said in a volume that was practically a shout for her. "Definitely not, I mean, unless you want to break up with me?" Gorgug was already enthusiastically shaking his head before she even stopped talking, and Zelda breathed a sigh of relief.

"No, I really like dating you. I like my friends, but sometimes I feel like you're one of the only people I can really relate to," he said. Zelda's face was starting to rapidly match the blush of her boyfriends. 

"So we both l-like each other and don't want to break up. What's the problem then?" She asked. 

"I just don't know how you could be dating multiple people at once," Gorgug shrugged. Oh, okay, Zelda was starting to understand now. 

"Is that, y'know, not something you do in your culture?" Thank Dionysius her skin was dark enough to hide what felt like the world's biggest blush spreading across her face. This was embarrassing enough.

"Um," he scratched the back of his neck as an awkward habit. "I don't really know about orcs, but I don't think gnomes do anything like that. Do uh, your people? Date multiple people?"

"S-sometimes," Zelda explained, her stutter returning slightly. "It's called polyamory. But obviously we wouldn't have to have a relationship like that if you didn't want to. I know it's probably weird."

"No, I think its cool," Gorgug quietly admitted. "I, um, think I might be bisexual?" He added in an even quieter voice.

"Oh, that's cool," Zelda said. "Me too." 

"Cool," the half orc smiled.

"Yeah. It is cool." 

* * *

"So do you have a crush on a boy?" Zelda asked hours later as they sat side by side on the bleachers. Gorgug nearly started choking on the gatorade they were sharing but managed to get himself under control with a few coughs. 

"I guess I don't really know," he said. "Why?"

"Well, you were saying earlier how you think you're bisexual so I was wondering if you like a boy. Or someone who's not a boy or a girl, I guess." Privately, Zelda thought she already knew exactly who had launched this identity realization, but she figured he should probably have to figure that out for himself. 

"I don't know if I can really call it a crush but…" Gorgug trailed off with a red face. "Rahg is, like, really cute. Just, objectively."

"Objectively," Zelda confirmed with false seriousness. 

"Exactly," Gorgug nodded. They maintained their business like expressions for a few seconds before they both broke out into giggles. 

"Well, if you ever decide if you like him or not, you can always talk to ms about it. And if you want, I'm definitely okay with you dating him as long as he understands you're dating me as well."

"Thanks Zelda," he said with a shy smile. "You're a really good girlfriend."

"Psh, stop it," she spluttered. Gorgug laughed and offered her the gatorade bottle. 

"You want to practice a bit more? I think I've rested enough for now." 

Zelda mulled the idea over for a beat before shaking her head.

"Nah," she decided, scotting closer to her boyfriend. "I think I'd rather just sit with you for a little bit longer."

"O-okay. That's cool too."

"Cool."

"Definitely cool."


	2. Skirting around the subject of gender

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gorgug tries on a skirt. Zelda takes an ax to anxiety before it even appears.

"Hey Gorgug, are you almost ready yet?" 

"Uh, y-yeah, just give me one more minute."

"Okay, just come out whenever you're ready."

"I thought this whole thing was a result of me already coming out."

"You know what I mean babe. But seriously, you don't have to do this if you don't want to.”

"I do want to its just… promise you won't laugh or anything?"

"Why would I laugh?"

"Because I look really stupid right now?"

"I think you probably look c-cute, but I can tell you for sure if you would actually let me see." 

Zelda sat crossed legged on the hallway floor facing the door to Gorgug's bedroom. It had been twenty minutes since she was politely kicked out to wait after gently caroling her partner ('partner' kind of made them both cringe, but thinking of a better word was taking a bit of effort, and Zelda wasn't willing to let Gorgug slide with their insistence that it was okay if she was more comfortable calling them her boyfriend. They were far too willing to ignore their own uncomfortable feelings for the sake of others, something she was trying to gently force out of them) into finally wearing the item they had bought weeks ago. 

It was much longer than it usually took people to change, even considering that they were a large half orc maneuvering in a slightly too small gnome scale tree, but she didn't mind. Gorgug was always there for her, even going to her family's some-would-say odd religious festivals. They were there when the thoughts of what could've happened to her and all the other maidens if they had been just a day too slow with their rescue were consuming. They were there whenever she needed them, and she tried to return the favor whenever possible. 

If that meant sitting in a hallway and talking to her partner through a bedroom door sometimes, well, it was worth it for them. 

"Okay, but I'm only opening this door because you're nice and won't laugh at me even if you think I look ridiculous." 

Zelda didn't have enough time to form another stuttering remark about how they never looked ridiculous except for ridiculously attractive before the door hesitantly creeped open, and out stepped Gorgug. 

They were wearing the same purple and black hoodie they had on before she was kicked out of the room, but now their usual blue jeans were replaced for a dark gray skirt that rested just below where their fingertips would be had their arms not been crossed defensively in front of them. It was simple and relatively plain, but Zelda's mind seemed unable to focus on anything but it. Even when her focus probably should have been on other things, like her partner's already red face growly rapidly more and more embarrassed.

"... It looks stupid, right?"

"No!" Zelda said almost too quickly. She cleared her throat with a blush. "I mean, n-no. It looks like, really cute actually."

"You think so?" Gorgug asked shyly. "Because you always look so pretty when you wear stuff like this but I feel like it just looks so weird on me." 

Zelda's brain momentarily malfunctioned at the compliment before spinning back into gear. 

"Thanks," she stuttered. "But for the record, I think you look really pretty too." 

Gorgug beamed and the satyr took note to add 'pretty' to the list of words that would grant her that wonderful unguarded smile. 

"Do you want to play some more Mario cart?" They asked after a moment of just smiling at each other. "I don't want to take it off just yet but I don't think I want anyone else to see me in it either. If you're okay with it, I mean." 

"Why would I not be okay with that? Except for the fact that its very distracting and will make kicking your ass at Mario Kart almost a challenge for a change," Zelda added with a scoff.

"My hands are too big for the controller!" Gorgug attempted to protest. But they were smiling as they led Zelda back into their room. 

The battle dancer watched as they flipped onto their slightly cramped bed and made to automatically sit with their legs crossed before realizing that it probably wasn't the best idea and moved to sit with their legs together instead. She laughed and playfully shoved into their shoulder with a strength that would have plowed over a non barbarian but only caused Gorgug to shover her back.

And despite the very real distraction of those legs just sitting out in the open, Zelda still kicked their ass in the grand prix. 

-

"Do you want to come to my family's weekly 'get super fucked up and praise Dionysius' party Saturday? It's cool if you don't, but my parents are like, always bugging me to bring you to these things," Zelda asked after a few moments of comfortable silence that was broken only by the clicks of mashing buttons.

"Sure, that sounds cool," they said before their face turned hesitant. "But, um, is it okay if I stay sober? I don't want to accidentally embarrass myself in front of your parents or anything." 

"Oh yeah, that's totally fine," she reassured. "But I doubt you could embarrass yourself in front of my parents, they're actually kind of crazy about you. It's really embarrassing." 

"They seem nice," Gorgug admitted. "My parents are kind of crazy about you too."

"Speaking of your parents, I'm kinda surprised they let me come over while they're gone?" Zelda half said and half asked. 

"They're really weird about 'giving me space,'" Gorgug laughed. "They give me all these really awkward talks all the time but I kind of appreciate it because they actually help sometimes, y'know."

"Yeah, I get it," Zelda said. "Like, my parents always warn me to make sure if I go to an ecstasy fueled orgy I make sure we're all in the ritual circle to protect us from accidentally summoning any lust demons. And to make sure everyone's wearing protection."

"Yeah, that second part is pretty big with my parents too." 

They laughed again, that soft laugh they always did when they were sharing some quiet private joke. And Zelda was reminded for the millionth time how nice it was to just sit with somebody and not be worried about filling the room with noise. There were no awkward silences between her and Gorgug, because to them silence wasn’t awkward. They could say just as much by smiling at each other as they could with all the words they weren’t quite ready to say aloud. There was an “I love you” in that smile, buried with the “I’m so happy you’re here.” 

-

“Thanks for convincing me to do this,” Gorgug said after a while. “I know it’s probably weird but…” they trailed off.

“I don’t think it’s weird,” Zelda offered. “And if it makes you happy then it doesn’t matter anyways, right?”

“Yeah,” they smiled. “It’s just- I don’t really know how to say this but-” Gorgug took a deep breath as they attempted the gather their thoughts into one cohesive train, a clear mark of the counseling undoing their old habit of barreling through their thoughts as though they were unimportant. “Gender stuff is hard,” they decided eventually.

Zelda nodded.

“I mean, I don’t really get it because I’m pretty happy with the gender I was assigned, but I understand that you’re not and I really hope exploring this more makes you happy.”

“You always sound so smart when you say stuff like that,” Gorgug laughed. “You’re going to make a really good wise old mentor one day.”

“I’m always going to be way too cool to be old.”

“Does listening to metal stop you from aging?”

“Hell yeah.”

They both laughed again, but this time the sound was drawn short as they both heard the sound of the Thistlespring’s van pulling up outside the tree.

“Do you want me to go stall them while you change back?” Zelda offered.

“Nah,” Gorgug said with a confidence she knew they definitely didn’t feel. “I think I’m okay.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

-

“Well hey there kiddos- Oh my gosh Bud, look at you, you look so gosh darn cute!”

“Thanks mom,” Gorgug said, their entire face red and their hand squeezing Zelda’s firmly. She sent him a look that was less an “I told you so” and more a “This thing that’s happening right now is really good and I’m really happy for you and also I’m smart and totally knew they would react like this.” Well, the looks were very similar, but it was more of they way that she smiled as she squeezed their hand back that let them know the difference.

“I love the new look,” Digby confirmed. “Did you two have fun while we were gone?”

Choosing to ignore the fact that their dad definitely meant something suggestive by this, Gorgug simply nodded. 

“Yeah,” they smiled. “We did. Zelda kicked my ass at Mario Cart. We ate some doritos. Or, well, I ate some doritos and Zelda ate the bag. Yeah, that’s pretty much it.”

“Sounds like fun,” Wilma nodded.

And Gorgug may not fully be comfortable with less than gender conforming presentation in public still, but as they held their girlfriends hand and talked normally with their parents, the world seemed a little safer. Maybe they would let Fig paint their nails next time afterall. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i kind of hate how this chapter turned out by a fever possessed me and wouldn't leave until i wrote about nonbinary gorgug in a skirt. i'm proud to be a pulpit for whatever god made this so.  
> btw if anyone ever drew any scenes from this i would love you forever. that would be amazing.   
> comment&kudo for the bad kids to go one day w/o gaining new trauma


	3. Hanging out and coming out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takes place before chapter 2

Zelda wasn't sure what she was expecting when she invited her boyfriend over. Preferably their usual quiet conversations, eating too much junk food, and playing video games until her parents came home and they realized 5 hours had passed. Possibly some sort of party related emergency for either of them, causing them to have to rush out, spilling apologies while texting to get the details, Gorgug rushing to his van or Zelda frantically looking for her armour and battle axe. Normal teenage stuff. 

There were no emergencies today. Mostly, it was the ideal situation. They did eat a frankly horrifying amount of chips, and they were both starting to get a bit of eye strain from video games, but something was… off.

If she hadn't known Gorgug so well, she honestly probably wouldn't have even noticed anything was different. It wasn't like there was some big out of character thing she could point to and identify. 

But it was the little things that made her think something was off. The way he was hunched over more than usual, buried in his hoodie that was too large. His smile fell a lot quicker, he was more even more quiet than he usually was, and Zelda was worried. 

She wasn't sure what to say though. It wasn't like she could just stop mid conversation and say "Hey, you're being weird, and now I'm putting you on the spot about it." That would be wild. 

So she just ignored it for the time being, trying to subtly hint that she would listen if Gorgug wanted to tell her anything, and contented herself with beating his ass at Mario Party. It was pitifully easy, honestly. 

In the end though, Gorgug decided to make it easy for her. 

"Is it okay if I'm not your boyfriend?" Before Zelda could even process that enough for her face to fall, brain scrambling to pick apart the middle thrashed sentence, Gorgug was correcting himself frantically. "Not like that, obviously! I love dating you. Sometimes, it's just the being called a boy part I don't like…"

Zelda blinked with surprise, but it honestly kind of made sense. Gorgug, whether he was aware of it or not, almost seemed to go out of his way at times to not align himself with guys sometimes. Not that she would say something shitty like 'I had known all along!' That was bullshit. She was just going to try and be supportive in the moment and catalogue her own feelings later after she had already reassured him about the obvious stuff. Not that it was really a bad thing, she was pan and attracted to all genders equally. 

"Okay. Do you think you're a girl?"

The game of Mario Party was now sitting paused in front of them and forgotten. 

"I-I don't think so?" Gorgug stuttered. "It's like, I kind of don't like it when the team calls me dude or anything, but I think I would equally dislike it if someone called me a girl?" He rubbed the back of his neck and burrowed deeper into his hoodie, and while Zelda could appreciate being nervous she really didn't want him to be worried about her reaction. 

"So nonbinary, then? Or some sort of similar label?"

"I think," he shuffled for a minute. "Nonbinary sounds like the closest thing to me? I don't know if it's perfect, but I like it a lot better than girl or boy."

"Okay," Zelda said simply. "You should come sit on my bed with me." Gorgug was sitting on the floor leaning against her bed like he usually did when he came to visit. It worked for the most part, and meant that he had some room to stretch his legs in front of him, but sitting next to her might force him to stop trying to hide in his hoodie.

"I don't want to accidentally break it," he mumbled in protest before complying anyways. They had this conversation frequently, often involving Zelda reminding him that her parents tended to do religious rituals that involved going absolutely feral, so all their furniture tended to be a bit tougher to prevent having to buy a new everything every time they decided to get enthusiastic in their worship for Dionysus. 

"Do you think you want a new name?" She asked once he was comfortably seated next to her, knees drawn up to his chest in an attempt to take up as little space as possible. Usually she would cuddle into his side, but she wanted him to be able to see the lack of judgement on her face. Well, he could if he would ever stop staring intently at the fraying bits at the ends of his hoodie strings. 

"Nah," he said easily. This, at least, he was confident about. "I like Gorgug. Besides, orc-ish names don't really denote gender that much."

"Really?" She asked. "That's cool."

"Yeah, orcs still have the concept of gender, obviously, but it's not as big of a deal as it is for humans. I know we're all raised in a pretty human society, but I still don't get what their deal is with gender."

"I know right," the satyr said. "Like, we get it, your bodies are a little different. Why is that such a big deal?" 

They sat in mutual confusion over why exactly humans cared so much about arbitrary roles for a moment before Zelda spoke up again. 

"What about pronouns?" 

"He and him are probably the easiest."

"Easiest doesn't mean the best. Do you actually want to use those?"

"I don't want to have to ask everyone to change how they talk about me. What if this is all a phase and I change my mind later?"

"You can just start with me. I can help you try them out, and if you don't like them you can switch. Or, there's the website I heard someone talking about online one time where you can try different pronouns."

"If it's not too much trouble…: Gorgug blushed. "Can you try using they and them for me?"

"Of course, Zelda smiled before putting on a fake announcer voice. "This is the person I'm dating. They're really cool, even though they suck ass at video games."

"The controllers are too small!" They protested, the phrase falling from their lips easily after being repeatedly teased, even though they had a happy grin on their face.

"Do you think you're going to tell your party?" Zelda asked.

"Soon," they said. "I know they'll take it well, I just want to make sure first, y'know? Same with my parents. If anything, they'll probably be  _ too  _ supportive." They laughed at that, Zelda knowing it was true even from the few conversations she had had with the couple. 

"I love you," Gorgug said once they were quiet for a few seconds, causing both of them to blush furiously. It was a new phrase in their relationship, but one they both enjoyed saying when they didn't feel as though the words would cause them to spontaneously combust. 

"Love you too," she smiled. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to the anon on tumblr who convinced me to finish writing this, you're the real og  
> If anyone wants to come hang out and chat about nb Gorgug (or d20 in general) hmu @an-anxious-gay-mess I promise I'm just as uncool on there as I am here  
> Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> First fic for this fandom and especially for these character so let me know how I did. I feel like zelda was a little too confident but also she's definitely got way more confidence as she begins to mature imo  
> Comment +kudo to save an author from sleep deprivation


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